THE LAST BORN

F I V E

ANA

"This is the gym, we have a basketball court, fighting rings, swimming pool, soccer field..." Jackie pushes open the door to let us in. Nirvana is a big, specialist in camouflage, triquetrous shape ship. The inside of the ship is very different from what Lev and Dom built, somehow everything about this ship is feel outdated, but what it lacks in technology it makes up in warmth. The ship feels alive. It feels like home, it shows that people are living here, making their lives here, treating this floating metal as their home.

As Jackie walks in, I can see on the other side of the big metal door is a brightly lit massive room with three floors. I can see black water on the first level and people walk passing by. Some of them are decently clothed, and some of them are not. I see men with their chests bare, and women with their stomachs showing. I look down to the floor as they walk past by. Everyone I know always decently covers their skin, it doesn't seem to be the norm here.

"Water is precious here so those are artificial," Jackie nods at the black water. "It's a chemical reaction that holds up most of the human's body weight, just like water, but we all need a special swimsuit because the chemical is corrosive to our skin," She explains.

I just nod at everything she says, something I pick up as a human's gesture. Like my first day out, people stops to stare at me, whispering behind my back and giving me odd looks. Now on the fourth day, Jackie is very kind to offer me a tour.

My wounds are mostly healed and I'm no longer in pain. Dania has been visiting me and giving me some medications. She even stays for a while and has a one-way conversation with me.

"Most of the people are still on their duties, so it's not very busy now," Jackie says with me following her close by. I can hear loud noises from the upper floor and slow down as I look up to see the source of the odd, loud noise.

"Up there are the rings, come, I'll show you," Jackie says cocking her head as she looks up to me.

"You're free to use these facilities, you know," She says again nodding at the swimming pool. "Do you like sport?" We climb the stairs to the upper floor. I shake my head, another gesture I picked up from the humans.

Father used to teach us self-defense, and only Dom who was actually enjoyed it. Nat, well, Lor. I remember the time father got a heated argument with Lor because he had to bound her wrist behind her back to show her how to free herself if she ever found herself in such circumstances.

Lev and I are more indoor kind of people. We used to do some running, and climbing. Father also thought me how to hit my opponent's weak points in their body, I guess I'm just not good at it. My heart squeezes painfully every time I remember my family.

"Well, me too. But it's mandatory here for everyone to learn self-defense, and strong people means strong community," I can see five different netted rings, only two of them are occupied and the one on the far back...

Then my whole body freezes.

"Ah... yes, he can look very intimidating, isn't he?" Jackie comments from next to me as we both are watching him sparring.

"But you know what," Jackie says trying to sound cheerful, "At the end, he is just a human, just like all of us,"

I look at her confused, he is nothing like the rest of the humans. I watch as he is taking satisfaction from punching whoever is on the floor. His losing opponent isn't a human, he has bright purple skin and a long skull that looks at least half a meter tall. The defeated person is laying down face flat on the floor.

The scene in that ring is gruesome, to say the least. Not only the sound of bones meeting bones, but also the choking sound of his losing opponents, something tells me he broke his neck, and I'm sure he is swallowing his own blood into his lungs.

"He looks threatening, and I know he acts intimidating," Jackie says as we watch him crushing his opponent's skull with the heel of his metal leg. "But he has a lot of weakness if you only look close enough past all the layers of toughness he puts up," Jackie looks at me and smiles.

A person is dying less than fifty meters from us, how could she smile?

"Every single human in this ship can confidently say, that he will walk through the fire, and sacrifice himself for any of us,"

I do notice how people seem to worship him as a leader, and I'm surprised he doesn't lead out of intimidation and fear. I wouldn't guess that he is a fair leader, instead of more of a tyrant, but I have learned that he is not. He is, to anybody else, but not to his fellow humans.

"When the earth was destroyed, he lost everything; his home, his friends, his family, his life, his limbs, literally, his world. But he got up and decided to put an end to our misery, and he hasn't stopped working towards that goal ever since," Jackie smiles widely at me, understanding that there is no response I can give her.

"Come, let's check the basketball court, I love basketball, but only when they lower the height of the ring,"

Jackie leads me to the stairs while I still can't tear my eyes from the lifeless alien body on the floor. Only when we start climbing the stair I look at the winner and instantly regret my action.

His eyes are fixed on me.

Not a drop of sweat on his face, and no rapid movement on his chest, he doesn't look bothered from killing and definitely not exhausted from doing that. He is bare-chested, allowing me to see the extension of his metal arm goes to his pectoral and his side, which then goes along his stomach and finally connected to his metal leg on his hips.

It's not his impressive physic that makes my blood runs cold, not the way where his body is covered with skin are visibility packed with muscles. It's the fire and hatred that are clearly shown in his eyes. He utters no word and hasn't moved an inch, but I know with one wrongdoing, it'd be me who will spar with him in that ring.

And it will be me laying flat on the floor in my own pool of blood, with my skull cracked open.

***

Malcolm watches her.

He watches her as she uses the freedom she doesn't deserve. Four days is still premature for him to expect her to open up to Jackie, but still, the chance isn't zero. He has appointed her to be her mentor, friend, directory, whatever she needs, hoping they will bond and Noir will trust Jackie enough to open up.

That's the plan.

What isn't in the plan, is his people giving him looks. Four days they have her around and suddenly they think she is an angel and that he is worst than the devil.

Absurd.

The reason why he is in the ring is that he needs to let out some steam. Formal complaint letters have been coming to his desk this past two days, asking justice for Noir. Justice?! What justice that the spy needs?!

Malcolm kicks the dead body of one of the UG militants until his corpse hits the net. All of the wrongdoings brought by these people, people who act like they are entitled, robing and killing others, then justified it for the greater good.

The UG is nothing but a crowd of snob people who are wasting the precious water and precious air. These people do not care for those who are not in their own circles.

How many planets have they destroyed?

How many civilizations they have wiped out?

How many cries of desperate mothers and grieving children have they caused?

Now the rest have left to defend themselves, to hunt their own siblings just to raid their kitchens and steal their warm beds. Those high, and oh so mighty people are turning everyone to each other out of desperation.

All planets have to surrender to their law. Businesses, information, even food, and medications are controlled by them. Some who are rebelled are known to work together to some extent, owing favors to each other building strengths side by side in silence. And whoever works to rebel against the UG is temporarily ally to him and the people he leads.

And Malcolm is certain, that Noir has her part in aiding the enemy.